A stubborn predawn fire yesterday gutted part of the Central Union Church Preschool & Kindergarten in Makiki, including a room that held much of the school's archives.

School administrators yesterday were working to arrange alternative space for the school's 48 keiki.

The fire at the 104-year-old building, once part of the Dillingham Estate, was first reported at 4:12 a.m. Firefighters quickly put it out, but it flared up again about 8:30 a.m.

"The second time the fire was in the roof area and that made it a little more difficult to fight," said Capt. Robert Main of the Honolulu Fire Department.

Officials had no immediate statement on what caused the fire or a monetary damage estimate. The fire damaged three classrooms, an office, storeroom and the teachers' lounge.

"The firefighters did a good job of containing the fire but the smoke was very heavy and it got into the air conditioning at the hospital (Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children)," Main said.

Robinson Fredrick is an assistant superintendent for the church who lives on the property. He said the fire alarms woke him up and by the time he got to the school the fire was mushrooming under the school's roof, sending plumes of smoke high into the air.

"The fire was shooting out from under the roof but the smoke was high," Fredrick said. "We had just got the new alarms inspected Monday."

Besides displacing 48 preschool and kindergarten students for the day, the biggest effect was the loss of the school archives.

"Not good," said Jessica Yamauchi, the school's special events coordinator who also deals with the archives, records and school history. "Lots of papers and files were in there. I lost a computer, two printers. ... I have a decent amount of stuff backed up on my laptop that I brought home, but it's still a lot of paper lost in there. Files and files of information."

It could have been worse, Yamauchi said. The proceeds from the school's fair this past weekend were also in her office. Several thousand dollars were preserved by a fireproof safe.

Miguel Asuncion, a school administrator, said the school was planning to build a new facility and in the meantime it had just installed new fire detectors and alarms earlier this week.

"We have renderings for the new school completed," Asuncion said. "Positives often come from negatives. That's what I'm hoping for in this case. We were very fortunate that this happened with no children and nobody here. The new fire alarms helped."

Though no one was injured, some patients at nearby Kapi'olani Medical Center in rooms facing the church and school had to be moved because of heavy smoke.

Dennis and Nadine Salle of Kaimuki were among a handful of parents who brought their kids to the school grounds despite the class cancellations.

"We got a call telling us what happened but we wanted to bring him here to show him so he'd understand what went on," said Dennis Salle, with 4-year-old son Etienne riding piggyback on his shoulders as they watched firefighters work. "This is kind of a life lesson. The finality of what can happen. Here yesterday, gone today."